![]() ![]() This social divide made it difficult to hold government for more than one election, causing, as stated by George Truss “no stability or substantial progress within Weimar Germany.” Furthermore, as stated by Rößner “because the workers’ movement was divided, the young republic was not able to raise its own army.” Political disagreement between the government and armed-forces compounded this matter, as the Majority Socialists were forced to rely on anti-communist Freikorps for support. Political divide between leftist and anti-socialist armed forces, and social divide between radical-left Spartacists, majority socialists and pro-monarch loyalists disallowed the newly-formed Weimar Republic to truly hold government and were vital to the Nazi’s rise to power. While the Great Depression further weakened German economy and reinforced Nazi following, it was not the largest factor in empowering the Nazis. Mistakes made by Weimar leadership deteriorated government power and gave Hitler means to gain power, and the loss of WW1, and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles exasperated Germans, and was used by Hitler to garner support. Political divide within the military and German social division compromised governmental stability. The issues that the speaker brought up are still relevant to this day and will probably be applicable as long as humanity exists.While The Great Depression played a minor factor in bringing the Nazis to power, a variety of other factors had a greater impact. In the message, Elie Weisel has talked about indifference, how it affected the world, and what could humanity possibly do to avoid the terrors of the war in the next millennium. Summing up, the Perils of Indifference is a speech that has made a profound impact on America and the world. These and other questions cannot be answered for certain, but humanity can use them as guidelines to keep moving forward and improve. During the speech, Weisel asked (1999), “Does it mean that we have learned from the past? Does it mean that society has changed? Has the human being become less indifferent and more human?”. Nowadays, with the ubiquity of television and the internet in the world, it would be much more difficult to ignore the war conflicts, and therefore more difficult to be indifferent. The current situation in the world is very different from that during the times of the Holocaust. The speech by Elie Weisel was relevant at the time given, and it is still applicable today. Nevertheless, Weisel was hopeful that the world would become more humane in the future and help those in need. However, the answer to those queries was posed at the very beginning of the message – indifference is tempting, and it takes effort to care about other people. Throughout the speech, Weisel constantly asked questions about the origin of indifference, and why the atrocities of the war were allowed to happen. For instance, one might fight for his or her own country out of anger but indifference never promotes any responses. In the speech, he stated (1999), “indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred”, implying that the latter characteristics might provoke something beneficial for humanity. Weisel believed that this emotional state might frequently be more deteriorating for a human than anger and hatred. The theme of indifference was central in the message and persisted throughout the whole speech. The quote implies his changing attitude towards the world and the intensifying faith in humanity, and that is why Weisel was such an appropriate figure for the lecture. ![]() In the speech, Weisel stated (1999), “but this time, the world was not silent. ![]() On the brink of the millennium, another war conflict in Kosovo occurred, and the fact of thousands of refugees fleeing from the country closely resembled the atrocities of the Second World War.Įven though during the times of the Holocaust, the orator was miserable and scared by the indifference of the world, his hopes for a better future strengthened in the second half of the 20th century. Being a survivor of the Holocaust, Weisel has experienced a large amount of suffering and pain in his life and witnessed the terrors of the war firsthand. The context of the speech was one of the several things that made it so relevant at the time and why Elie Weisel was such an appropriate guest for the Millenium Lecture Series. ![]()
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